


The Solo Girls

by lajulie



Series: Epic Love 'Verse [2]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, At least as far as TLJ is concerned, Coming of Age, F/F, F/M, Family, Fix-It, Friendship, Fusion of Star Wars Legends and Disney Canon, Jedi, Less of a fix-it and more of a gut rehab, M/M, Rogue Squadron, Romance, The Force
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-08
Updated: 2018-11-05
Packaged: 2019-07-08 01:25:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 15,289
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15920100
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lajulie/pseuds/lajulie
Summary: For Jaina Organa-Solo and her new sister Rey, it's a time of growth -- and danger. As they join with their family and allies to fight the First Order and defend the Light, the sisters must also each find their own paths through love, family, destiny, and the Force.A sequel trilogy fix-it (or, if you're thinking of TLJ, pretty much a total gut rehab) and the sequel to Epic Love.





	1. Shining How We Want

**Author's Note:**

> A million thanks to all of you who have read and supported Epic Love. This sequel is a labor of ongoing love, and I'm hoping to post updates every other week. 
> 
> As you could probably tell from the title, this story focuses much more on Jaina and Rey, but some other favorites will figure prominently in the story as well, which is why there are so many tags. There are probably going to be some tag updates as we go along as well to avoid spoilers.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey has a new family and a place with the Resistance, if she wants it. Luke begins again to pass on what he has learned. Jaina accidentally reveals something left behind on Ahch-To.

The climb and the anticipation had Rey a bit winded by the time she reached the top. The hooded figure turned around, saying nothing, but one look into his blue eyes told her she’d found him. Luke Skywalker, at last.

He stared at her for a long moment, giving her an unreadable look.

_The ‘saber. Give him the ‘saber._ Rey reached into her bag, pulling out the lightsaber that had called to her from Maz’s basement and holding it out to him expectantly.

After a pause that seemed endless, he took it from her with his metallic hand, took a moment to examine it, and…unceremoniously tossed it over his shoulder into the sea behind him.

* * *

Rey gasped, sitting up in the darkness. As usual when she dreamed of Ahch-To, it took her a few moments to regain her bearings. The touchstones around her otherwise spare quarters helped: the pressed flowers Leia had given her one afternoon after Rey had admired them, the junk metal Jaina and Luke had fashioned into a set of pilot’s wings after her inaugural X-Wing flight, the gun belt she’d gotten from Han, the stones she’d collected with Finn during a walk outside the base.

She thought about settling back into her bed, but sleep was generally a losing proposition after one of these dreams. Or visions, or whatever they were. She was considering whether to just go for a nighttime walk around the base when she felt a familiar nudge at the edge of her mind.

_Come on in_ , Rey sent back.

Jaina entered quietly, shutting the door behind her. She was still in the loose pants and Corellian Dreadnoughts t-shirt she typically wore to bed, her dark hair in a loose braid for sleeping. “Hey,” she greeted. “Another Luke dream?”

“Yeah.”

“What’d he do with it this time?”

Rey laughed softly. “Chucked it into the sea. Barely even looked at it.”

Jaina snorted, sitting on the bed next to Rey. “He’ll love hearing that. You okay?”

Rey nodded. “Fine. Just—probably done sleeping for a while.”

“Yeah,” Jaina nodded. They sat quietly for a minute.

“Too early to go meditate. Right?” Rey asked.

“Well…” Jaina made a face. “Uncle Luke would say it’s never too early, but…it’s not even 400 hours.”

“Too early,” Rey agreed.

“Could try to get on the sims before they pack ‘em up,” Jaina suggested.

Rey brightened a bit. “Yeah, let’s do that.” She grabbed her comm. “I’ll leave Finn a message so he doesn’t think we ditched him.”

“Good thinking.”

* * *

There were more people up at this hour than was usual on D’Qar, but that was likely due to preparations for the move to a new base. The victory at Starkiller Base had saved the Resistance and taken out enough of the First Order’s power center to delay their advance, but it was only a matter of time before they regrouped and came back just as strong as before. And now they could do so openly, having crippled the Republic and eliminated the need to hide the extent of their military activity.

The flight simulators in the training center had not yet been shut down; even as they prepared the rest of the base to evacuate, new recruits to the Resistance were arriving daily. Three hundred thirty hours was not a particularly popular time to train, however, so Jaina and Rey easily found two sims available for use.

“Jaina Organa-Solo,” Jaina said crisply to the sign-in kiosk. “Entry verified,” it chirped back.

The kiosk always made Rey hesitate a bit. “Rey,” she said, her voice faltering slightly even on that syllable.

“Entry verified.”

Jaina must have noticed her hesitation. “You know,” she said quietly as they sat down at their simulators, “You can use it."

Rey didn’t look up. “I know.”

“We all agreed—but only if you want,” Jaina added hastily.

Rey smiled back at Jaina as she put on her headset. First Han, then Leia and Jaina had taken Rey into their family in the last few weeks. She was starting to think of Jaina as her sister already, even if she hadn’t grown up with a concept of what that even felt like.

But she couldn’t yet bring herself to take the Organa-Solo name, not officially. Taking it felt so—final, somehow. Like all those years, all those tally marks meant nothing, like she was burying all hope of her family’s return to Jakku. Like she was burying _them_.

“I do want it,” she said. “I think. I’m just—“

“Not ready?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay.” Jaina smiled at her, then adjusted her headset and turned her attention to the simulator, her tone changing to a friendly challenge. “You ready for this?”

Rey grinned back. “Bring it on.”

* * *

_Wish this were as easy to master as those sims_ , Rey thought later, trying for the fifth time to clear her thoughts and focus, as Luke had coached her. Her eyes were closed, but she could see the ‘saber quiver, as if it were about to spring toward her.

And then it stopped. It always stopped. _Why can’t I do this?_ Rey could see so clearly how the ‘saber had flown to her hand on Starkiller Base, past Kylo Ren’s astonished face, hitting her palm and igniting in one fluid motion. But she hadn’t been able to replicate that; now, it was like she was some kind of a Force dud.

_I am going to make this kriffing thing come to me if it’s the last thing I do_ , she thought, grimacing in concentration.

She felt a hand on her wrist. “Rey. Stop.” She opened her eyes to see Luke looking at her. She released her body, surprised to see how tense she had become.

Luke smiled gently. “I know. It’s not easy. It took me a long time, too.”

Rey furrowed her brow, but didn’t say anything.

“More meditation will help,” he continued. “You have to get out of your own way. It’ll come,” he assured her.

Rey wanted to throw something, but that was just her frustration with herself. Luke was such a kind, gentle teacher that it was hard to get mad at him. Although come to think of it, sometimes his seemingly infinite patience made her slow progress even more maddening.

She took a deep breath and moved to the other side of the room, where Jaina was guiding Finn to search for someone’s presence in the Force. It was one of the first things Rey had learned to do.

“Did you find someone?” Jaina was asking him.

“General Organa,” he said softly, his eyes closed.

“Leia,” Leia corrected, her voice gentle. Rey could sense Leia’s presence without much effort now. Warm, strong, deep, like the kaffe color of her eyes.

“Leia,” Finn repeated, smiling, his eyes still closed. “Luke,” he said.

Luke’s presence was interesting. Gentle, warm, friendly, but also complex, threads woven together in a thousand designs. It was so different from Leia’s, but at the same time you could sense how they were connected, how their presences mirrored and complemented each other. When Luke had shared that they were twins, it had made perfect sense.

“Rey,” Finn said, and Rey suddenly felt suffused with warmth. Like she could take on the galaxy if she had to, like all her strength had been illuminated.

_He sees me_ , she thought, and smiled.

Finn was a relatively new student to the Force, and hadn’t quite decided how far he wanted to go in Jedi training. He hadn’t even decided whether he was officially joining the Resistance, but Leia had assured him that he was welcome there indefinitely, whether he signed on or not.

“Where were you with this thirty-five years ago?” Han had asked her in mock outrage.

“Still learning the value of independent contractors,” she’d said smoothly, with a little bit of a wink. She’d turned back to Finn. “I hope you’ll stay, but it’s your choice, always.”

Finn had elected to stay on and to at least learn a little about his Force-sensitivity, even if he never became a full-fledged Jedi. Rey was relieved; she’d only known Finn for a matter of weeks, but he already felt so familiar, so important. Everyone was doing their best to make her feel welcome here, like she mattered, but Finn felt special. Like she mattered in a different way to him.

_Maybe he’ll agree to meditate with me later_ , she thought. It was just meditation, just spending time together, but somehow the thought made her feel a bit—giddy.

_Oh, meditation? Is that what we’re calling it?_ Jaina’s teasing voice, in her head. Rey looked up to see Jaina watching her, a knowing smile on her face.

_Shielding_ , her new sister said. _I’ll show you later_.

* * *

The packed mess hall made Rey a bit antsy. She was still getting used to being with so many people, so much of the time. Sometimes she took her tray to the _Falcon_ , to eat in relative quiet and to chat a little with Chewie. But Han and Chewie were here, waving them over to a table in the corner.

Poe was there, too, listening with interest as Wedge described a defensive maneuver they’d done a few times during the Rebellion.

“Luke’s the one who came up with it,” Wedge was saying as they approached. “You should ask him. Hello, love,” he said fondly, greeting Luke with a quick kiss on the cheek.

Luke greeted his husband in kind, then turned to Poe. “I assume you’re talking about that thing we did when we were leaving Horox III.”

“That’s the one,” said Wedge, and the three men began discussing strategies the Rebels had used to throw off Imperial tracking systems during their evacuation. Jaina was following the conversation intently, stopping them periodically to ask questions.

“Question is, are the First Order systems close enough to the Imperial ones for that to work?” Poe asked, directing his inquiry toward Finn, who had been listening but not otherwise participating in the discussion.

“What kind of trackers were the Imperials using?” Finn asked, and Wedge had just finished explaining the main theory behind the Imperial tracking system when Han broke in.

“Hey. Enough shop talk. If I wanted a strategy session, I’d be eatin’ with Her Worship and Ackbar right now,” he said. “They’ve got briefing rooms for a damn reason, yeah?” He lightly jostled Wedge, who was seated next to him. “Expected better out of you.”

Wedge laughed. “Yeah, yeah, all right.” He pointed at Poe. “To be continued.”

Poe grinned eagerly. “You got it.”

They ate in relative silence for a few minutes, then Poe turned to Jaina and Rey. “Thought I was going to be first one on the sims this morning—but I guess I gotta get up before 0400 next time,” he said.

“Guess so,” Jaina replied with a smile.

“What were you doing up that early?” Han asked.

“Rey needed a distraction,” Jaina said. “I woke up when she woke up.”

“Another dream?” Wedge asked. At Rey’s nod, he asked, “What’d he do with it this time?”

Rey had a mouth full of food, so Jaina broke in. “Tossed it into the sea. It’s probably one with the X-Wing now,” she joked to Luke, who laughed softly.

“What do you mean, one with the X-Wing?” Wedge asked with curiosity. Jaina’s eyes widened, and Rey saw a look flash across her face, one that said _Oops_. Luke suddenly became very interested in his lunch.

When nobody answered him, Wedge turned to Luke. “Love,” he said, “is there an X-Wing still on your lonely island somewhere?”

Luke nodded.

“Where is it?”

“It’s parked,” Luke replied calmly.

Han looked extraordinarily amused at that response. “Is it parked _underwater_?” he asked. Luke paused, then nodded again.

This was the first Rey had heard of this. She exchanged a look with Finn, then nearly laughed out loud at the expression on Poe’s face, which was one of mild horror.

Wedge looked a bit horrified as well. “You _left_ it in the water?”

Luke shrugged. “We had to leave in kind of a hurry. You know, Han? Starkiller Base, Force visions?”

“Why was it in the water in the first place?” Poe asked.

“To teach me a lesson,” said Jaina, rolling her eyes. “I was supposed to use the Force to lift it out and back up the rock.”

_And you couldn’t?_ thought Rey. Jaina’s skills in the Force seemed light-years away from her own; there seemed to be very little that she couldn’t do after her years of training with Luke. Rey exchanged another look with Finn, who was having a similar reaction.

“She could’ve done it,” Luke assured them.

“I almost _did_ do it,” Jaina said. “Got it halfway up the cliff.”

“Close only counts for thermal detonators,” Luke said, teasing her with a fond smile. Jaina rolled her eyes again, shaking her head.

Wedge and Poe were still preoccupied with the fate of the ship. “The water’s going to be hell on those electronics,” muttered Poe, shaking his head.

“Not to mention the hull. What in nine hells were you thinking?” Wedge asked.

Luke was continuing to shrug it off. “I don’t know, that we were going to be on the island for another year?”

“You were gonna leave it in the water for another _year_?” Wedge asked.

_Sheepish_ was a look Rey had not seen before on Luke Skywalker, but he definitely had it now. “Not the whole year,” he said. Han and Chewie were chuckling.

Wedge seemed to catch the change in Luke’s demeanor and calmed his own. He took a drink of his water, shaking his head. “Wes is going to have a field day with this one, y’know,” he said.

Luke perked up. “You heard back from him?”

Wedge nodded. “This morning. And he roped in Hobbie and Tycho, too. Tryin’ to get them here before we head out.”

“Right before the evacuation?” Han asked.

“First Order already knows where this base is. If this is just a reunion, no reason to put them in danger with info on the next one,” Wedge pointed out.

Rey and Finn exchanged a look. Obviously Finn didn’t know whom they were talking about, either, though Jaina and Poe clearly did, judging by their expressions.

Poe grinned at Finn. “Janson, Klivian, Celchu. You hear of ‘em?”

“Rogue Squadron,” Jaina added.

Finn’s eyes widened. “Yeah, I’ve heard of them.” Finn kept surprising everyone with his level of knowledge about the Rebellion against the Empire. Much of the information he’d been fed by the First Order was wrong, but he seemed to have been given enough truths that he could sift out the lies and put things together fairly quickly.

“You wanna know how to evacuate under the enemy’s nose,” Wedge told Poe, “they’re your men.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, we could be the stars, falling from the sky  
> Shining how we want, brighter than the sun…
> 
> \-- “Brighter Than the Sun,” Cobie Caillat


	2. Masters of the Scene

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Rogues are back in town, and are in for a few surprises. Jaina and Rey find a little something that's been missing for a while.

How many times had they been over this again? Three? Four? Jaina was losing count. And patience.

“What is there to hide? Everyone on base already knows who she is,” Wedge pointed out. “Besides, they know better than to run their mouths.”

Chewie let out a guffaw at that one. [Do they, though?]

“She’s still hidden in the Force,” Luke reminded them. “She’d still be hard to find.”

Her father grimaced. “Even so—“ he began.

 _That’s it. Enough._ “Stop talking about me like I’m not here,” Jaina snapped, her eyes flashing.

Conversation stopped, and five heads immediately turned in Jaina’s direction. The sudden shift in focus startled her for a second, but she quickly recovered, drawing herself up taller to address her parents and uncles.

“I can’t hide forever,” she said. “And I’ve been training for four years already.” She gave Luke a pointed look. “More training than Uncle Luke ever got.” She understood her family’s worries, but she wasn’t some little girl anymore.

Her father’s face relaxed, and he grinned at her, sitting back. She really didn’t know what the hells to make of him sometimes.

“What?” she asked, folding her arms and shooting him a glare.

At that move, all three of her uncles stifled a laugh or a _whoof_ , obviously trying to hide their amusement.

Her mother smiled and turned to Jaina. “They’re just enjoying that we have similar—styles,” Leia said, then turned a serious look to the men. “She’s right. Jaina has to live her life, and she can’t if everyone still thinks she’s dead.”

“Besides,” noted Wedge, looking at Han, “they’re still pissed as hell at you. She’s about the only thing keeping you from being pushed out an airlock.” Her father shrugged and nodded.

It was strange—Jaina hadn’t really thought a whole lot about what things must have looked like to the outside world over the last seven years. She understood the basics, mostly because her parents and uncles had drummed into her the importance of keeping a low profile, the fact that her faked death was being done to keep her safe, that her own brother was one of the people keeping her from being safe. But as mature as she’d been at age ten, and as honest as her parents had been about their reasons, she hadn’t realized how kriffing _mad_ people had been at her father until recently.

Like Uncle Wedge. Was he happy to see both her father and her alive and well? Absolutely. Did he forgive Luke and her parents for lying to him? Definitely. Did he love them all dearly? Of course. But he wasn’t done being angry, even if it was only a little angry at this point. He might never be completely done.

 _Anger is a part of being alive_ , Luke had once said to her. _It’s what you do with it that counts_.

Jaina remembered feeling a bit of a _click_ in the Force when he’d said that, like a piece had fallen into place. That happened sometimes when she was training with him, when something resonated. Sometimes even when she completely disagreed with it, only to eventually acknowledge it was right. She’d learned to listen for it, to wait for it.

Ahch-To being an ancient Jedi temple site, they’d managed to uncover some of the old Jedi texts, and had nothing but time to spend poring through them. The texts had plenty of wisdom to impart; in fact, she and Luke had already agreed that at some point they should probably go bring back or try to record parts of the books, if for no other reason than to understand the Jedi traditions that had come before. But often the things that caused the _click_ were ideas or moments that seemed to directly contradict the wisdom in the texts.

 _Trust your feelings_ , Luke had said on countless occasions. That advice clicked, too, once Jaina understood what trusting your feelings actually looked like. Anger could lead you to dark places, if you blindly followed it. But this anger was borne of love, of loyalty, of faith in another. Connection. Those things, you could trust.

* * *

Leia poked her head into the kitchenette in her quarters. “Have everything you need?” she asked.

[Yes, thank you, Little Princess,] Chewie warbled back.

The smells coming from the stove were tantalizing. _Chewie’s cooking_ , she thought. _Another thing I’ve missed._

After a fair amount of discussion, they’d agreed that the best strategy for welcoming the Rogues and reintroducing Han and Jaina into the equation was a quiet dinner at Leia’s quarters. Chewie had offered to cook, which had a double benefit—Chewie’s delicious food, and the fact that the Wookiee’s presence might prevent the Rogues from decking Han on sight.

“I should be thanking _you_ ,” she said. “I wasn’t even sure those burners worked.” Leia could make a few dishes, but cooking had never been a high priority for her, and her current duties left her with little time or inclination to do it.

[Your stove _was_ curiously clean], Chewie observed, and Leia laughed, sneaking in a side-hug but taking care not to disturb the pot he was stirring.

[Is Cub hiding?]

“He’s keeping Jaina company for a few minutes. Trying to keep himself away from the liquor, I think.” Han didn’t generally drink a lot, but he was clearly a little uneasy about tonight and worried that he might overdo it a bit. _Wanna be on my game_ , he’d told her earlier.

Jaina tended to have a calming effect on him. Either he went right back into dad mode, or she managed to make him laugh about something, both of which took his mind off stressful situations—and made him less likely to pull out some version of his old bravado to hide behind.

At almost the same time, she sensed Luke, Wedge, and the Rogues approaching in the Force, and heard the sound of two familiar teasing voices, followed by raucous laughter from the rest of the group. Wes and Hobbie were obviously giving Luke a hard time about something.

“Han!” she called back to the bedroom, making her way to the door.

“Coming!” he called back.

As they came in, Tycho Celchu was the first to greet her. Though his hair was now completely white, he’d retained much of the boyish good looks Leia remembered from their Rebellion days.

“Your Highness,” he said, the formality of his greeting tempered by the warmth of his smile. “You look amazing.”

“Thank you,” Leia said, giving his hand an affectionate squeeze and waving the others in. “It’s General, these days. Or just Leia.” Over the years, she’d taken to using what she thought of as more functional titles—Senator, Ambassador—particularly after the revelation of her biological parentage had caused such an incredible furor. It was easier that way.

Tycho shook his head, smiling as he raised Leia’s hand to kiss it. “Forever my Princess,” he insisted, and it warmed her to hear it.

 _Of course_ that would be when Han made his appearance. Leia had just turned to hug Wes when he sauntered into the room behind her. “ _My_ Princess,” he corrected Tycho, “but who’s counting?”

The Rogues fell silent, and even if Leia hadn’t been as attuned to the Force as she was these days, she would have felt the tension in the room double. The glare Hobbie was firing Han alone could have cut glass.

“Yeah, so, I was getting to that,” Wedge said, a little apologetically. “Uh, Han’s back.” As the Rogues continued to stare, Wedge cut through the group and came over to stand by Han, clapping an arm around his shoulder. “He never really left.”

Three faces turned to Leia with a questioning look, and she smiled. “We have a lot to talk about,” she said. “How about a drink before dinner?”

* * *

Jaina was already getting up when she heard Luke’s voice in her head. _Ready for you now._ She’d been playing around on her mother’s old datapad, ostensibly catching up on her Holonet gossip, though she couldn’t help but monitor the minor drama going on in the next room.

It was weird being the reason for your parents’ supposed breakup, for your uncle’s disappearance, for your other uncle being away from home for most of the last seven years. Just—weird. Although Jaina had already managed to file away some of that weirdness, dismissing it as just being her _thing_. It wasn’t heroic like defecting from the First Order, or tragic like watching your planet explode, or remarkable like pretty much raising yourself on a desert planet, but it was a thing. All of them seemed to have one.

Of course, her family had always been a little extra weird. So maybe it was just _their_ thing, to have a _thing_.

As she made her way to the sitting area, she could already feel the energy in the room changing, the simmering anger at her father replaced by confusion and disbelief as her mother shared the truth. Even Jaina had to admit that it was a lot to take in.

After going round and round about whether to reintroduce her, they’d moved on to talking forever about how. _I could jump out of a cake or something_ , Jaina had joked, and while that suggestion had given everyone a good laugh, her uncle Wedge had said that any scenario involving Wes Janson and a woman he might not immediately recognize was a bad idea. _You don’t want to end the evening with Chewie tearing someone’s arms off_.

 _I can take care of tearing off my own arms, thank you very much_ , she’d said. She was pretty proud to have gotten a laugh from both Wedge and Chewie for that.

But things were deadly serious now, as Jaina entered the sitting area and stood by her parents. She recognized Tycho, Wes, and Hobbie from memory, but even the sense she’d gotten from each of them in the Force had not prepared her for the astonished looks on each of their faces.

Yes, jumping out of a cake would have been a terrible idea. But Jaina couldn’t resist making a joke anyway, if only to break the tension. “What’s the matter?” she asked. “Haven’t ever seen a ghost before?”

Wes’s face curled into a grin. “Well, she’s a Solo all right.”

* * *

Scavenging was a solitary business, mostly by necessity. The one time Rey had partnered with some of her fellow scavengers, she’d gotten taken, her ship stolen out from under her. She’d made sure to work alone after that.

Still, climbing through the innards of the _Falcon_ with Jaina was a little like the part of scavenging she’d actually enjoyed: exploration. You never knew what you might find hidden among the tubes and wires. A rusted-over part that someone had overlooked, some stray circuit boards she could use for improving her speeder. Or in today’s case, a stray hydrospanner.

“A-ha!” Jaina exclaimed as she spotted it, too, motioning to Rey. “Can you reach it?”

Rey stuck her hand between the two duct lines that had trapped the tool, but it was just a bit beyond her reach. “Maybe if I can go around—“ she climbed down a bit, then started to approach it from another angle, but that wasn’t any closer. Rey grunted a bit as she climbed back to her original position.

“You could use the Force,” Jaina suggested. She was out of Rey’s line of sight at the moment, but very close by.

Rey didn’t say anything. Instead, she started peering up into the maze of ducts and wires again, looking for another opening and starting to crawl through to try to reach it from above. She was trying to ignore that sinking feeling, the same feeling she got as she tried to call that stupid lightsaber that just. Wouldn’t. Come. And she found herself getting a little irritated with Jaina. _Get it yourself, if it’s that kriffing easy_ , she thought, then felt bad for her reaction.

Jaina must have caught that thought, because she immediately apologized. “Sorry, I’m sorry. I just—I know you can do it.”

Rey dropped down so she was back in Jaina’s face. “How,” she challenged, but it wasn’t irritation anymore. It was disbelief.

A shrug from Jaina. “I don’t know. I just do.” Rey shook her head slightly, but Jaina wasn’t done. “Try? Please?”

Rey took a deep breath and climbed back up to where she’d nearly reached the hydrospanner. She closed her eyes, saw the spanner in her head, watched it—

 _Clank_. She opened her eyes to find the spanner not in her hand, but now floating in the air just to the side of her arm. The noise had been it hitting the reinforcement for the ductwork on the way over to her.

Her concentration broken, the spanner dropped, but Rey quickly caught it before it could get lost again in the maze of machinery.

 _Well, not perfect. But it’s something_. Rey turned to Jaina, who said nothing but was looking at her with a delighted smile.

Their minor triumph was interrupted by Han’s voice calling from the deck above them. “Jaina! Rey! They were just here…”

They emerged from the maintenance bay a minute later. “We’re here,” Jaina called as she hoisted herself up to floor level. Rey followed, recovered spanner in hand, just as Han and Wedge entered the room.

“Hey, that the number four spanner?” Han asked with interest. Rey nodded, handing it to him. “Thanks. Been missing for like five years,” he explained to Wedge.

“Rey’s teaching me how to scavenge,” Jaina said with something that sounded like pride, and Rey couldn’t help a nervous giggle. Sure, it had been a useful skill on Jakku, but Rey felt a little shy about talking about it here. It felt different than something like learning to fly or learning to fire a blaster. Strange. Though it had come in handy on Starkiller Base, she supposed, so there was that.

Han didn’t seem to think it was strange at all, though; he just made an interested “Ah” sound before gesturing to Wedge, who’d evidently been looking for them.

“Got a proposition for you two,” Wedge said. “I need to put the Rogues through their paces. You up for a test flight?”

* * *

The flight suits were still painfully orange; the starbird still graced their helmets; the hangar was still a flurry of activity. If it weren’t for the abundance of white and grey hairs among them, it might have felt like it was still thirty-five years ago.

To Wedge, it did feel a little bit like having his brothers back, if only for a while. And if things went well on this flight, perhaps they’d all be sticking around, fighting the good fight together again.

Hobbie, predictably, was pessimistic about things going well.

“You know,” he warned as they gathered by their ships, “you might not want us. It’s been a while. We might fly like shit now.”

 _Same old Hobbie_. “Your sims scores say otherwise,” Wedge told him. “But that’s why we do test flights.”

Wes perked up. “You got our scores?”

“Sure did,” Wedge said, motioning to the datapad in his hand. “Nobody qualified for desk duty.”

“Lemme see those,” Wes said, grabbing the datapad. “Ha! Celchu, got you beat.”

Tycho peered over Wes’s shoulder. “And I beat Hobbie, but only by two places.”

Wes had already begun scrolling up to see the highest recent scores. “Kun, Dameron—wait, is that Bey and Dameron’s kid?”

Wedge grinned. “Sure is.”

“Ha!” laughed Tycho. “I don’t believe it. Baby Poe’s at the top!”

“Oh, great, now I don’t feel old at all,” grumbled Hobbie good-naturedly.

Wes handed back the datapad and shook his head as he caught sight of the two figures that had just entered the hangar, now headed their way. “Speaking of things that make me feel old,” he said, gesturing at Rey and Jaina. “Rogue Five in a full-size flight suit.”

As a little girl, Jaina had tagged along with Luke and Wedge to one of the Rogues’ reunions, and they’d dubbed her “Rogue Five” for the weekend, since she was five years old at the time. Wes, who normally flew as Five, had been happy to share his callsign.

Wedge had to admit, he still got flashes of that five-year-old girl sometimes, her joy in beating a tough sim reminding him of her delight when he’d shown her the controls of his ship, years ago. Or the ten-year-old he’d mourned, her voice and her face burned into his brain forever. It threw him sometimes, to see Jaina grown up. Luke had assured him that it wasn’t just the years of separation that had done that; even though he’d lived with her the last four years, sometimes it took him by surprise as well.

“And another Solo girl, too,” Hobbie noted. They did look even more like sisters than usual today, in their matching flight suits, dark hair braided close to their heads. “You wanna tell us what’s up with that?” he asked Wedge.

Wedge shrugged. “Not much to tell,” he said. “She found the _Falcon_ , Han and Chewie found her and Finn.” He smirked at his old friends. “Already asked Han and Leia if they had another kid they forgot to tell us about.”

“It’s uncanny,” Tycho observed.

“Wait till you see ‘em fly,” Wedge said with a grin, putting on his helmet.

* * *

“Rogue Eight, standing by,” Rey said as they reported in. She had a callsign, a real one, even if it was just for this flight.

She just hoped she’d be good enough. They’d been training for a few weeks, with a few chances to get in the air, and while she didn’t exactly want to jump right into combat, she was ready for a new challenge. The sims were getting boring; she’d passed a lot of her downtime on Jakku doing sims, and while the ones here were more challenging, she’d gotten the hang of most of the situations quickly. She knew Jaina was in a similar place, having logged a lot of time in the simulator she’d had on Ahch-To.

 _It’ll be good practice for you_ , Wedge had said when he’d invited them to join this flight. _Learn how to fly with a squadron, not just a wingmate_. She’d agreed, though at the time her mind had been preoccupied with remembering the way Wedge had introduced Rey to the Rogues the previous evening. She and Finn had joined the group after dinner, when it was clear that the whole Jaina and Han reveal had gone all right. _And this is Rey_ , Wedge had said. _My other niece._

She worked to bring her attention back to the present. _Okay, Rey. Focus. The Force is with you,_ she reminded herself _._

Not that she needed that last reminder. Once she was in the cockpit, all her mental chatter tended to fall away. Here, she could actually feel the Force moving through her, in the way that Luke and Jaina and Leia and even Finn had described. This energy, this presence that she could guide, that could guide her. It was exhilarating.

“Rogue Eleven, standing by,” she heard Jaina say. Not sure how why they’d picked that number—Jaina had given Five back to Wes Janson—but she seemed thrilled to have a number, too.

“All right, Rogues. Let’s see what you got,” Wedge said over the comm, and they were off.

* * *

_Holy Goddess_ , Tycho thought. Flying an X-Wing again had been easier than he’d expected—years of high-pressure combat had sealed the maneuvers into his brain, evidently—but he hadn’t counted on being outmaneuvered consistently by the two young pilots flying with them. It was like flying with fucking Skywalker again. _Wedge wasn’t kidding._

He executed a perfect dive, only to have Rey escape with a wingover so tight and quick, he barely registered her until she was gone. “Nice one,” he managed.

Then Jaina buzzed by him. “Got your six,” she said, and how the hell had she gotten back there so damned fast?

Tycho breathed with relief when Wedge had them move into some squadron maneuvers. “Take my wing, Eleven,” Wedge instructed. “Eight, you take Five’s.” And like that, they were back together, the more experienced Wedge, Wes, Hobbie, and Tycho showing the new recruits how to fly together as a team.

Hobbie’s pessimism had been wrong, at least. Now if they could get Wedge to agree to lead them again, get some new blood even half as good as these two, they really could get the band back together and kick some Imperial—er, First Order ass.

Back on the ground, Wes was jubilant. “Now that’s how it’s _done_ , am I right?”

“Yeah,” Hobbie allowed, nodding. “But—what the fuck was _that_?” he asked, obviously indicating Jaina and Rey.

“I _told_ you,” Wedge said.

They quickly quieted down as Jaina and Rey came over.

“All right, you two,” Wedge said to them, “what do you think? These old guys good enough to fly with the Resistance?”

Rey got an incredulous look on her face, like she couldn’t believe she was seriously being asked this question. “Uh, yeah,” she said, barely keeping her enthusiasm in check.

“Jai?”

“I think they’ll work out,” Jaina responded coolly, sounding exactly like her mother, though the laughter in her eyes was all her.

After a quick congratulations on the flight, and thank-yous all around, Jaina and Rey headed off to the locker room, and Wedge turned back to his friends.

“Now we know you _can_ do it. So what do you say? Wes?”

“I’m in if we can still call you Boss,” Wes said. “No hiding behind a desk.”

Wedge grinned. “Tych?”

“I’m in. Same conditions, though.”

Wedge nodded. “Figured it might be something like that. You got me, if you want me. Hobbie?”

Hobbie paused, like he was hesitating, then shrugged. “Hey, I’m half machine and half bacta these days, but if you can use me to fight the fuckin’ Zombie Empire? I’m in.”

And just like that, Rogue Squadron was reborn.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “And here we go again, we know the start, we know the end  
> Masters of the scene  
> We’ve done it all before and now we’re back to get some more  
> You know what I mean…”
> 
> \--“Voulez Vous” (Fantasmagorical Dub Mix), Erasure (cover of ABBA song)


	3. Into Time and Space

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finn and Rey share a challenge, and a moment. Victory kids Karé Kun and Poe Dameron spend some time with the heroes of the Rebellion, who enlist their help to build the new Rogue Squadron.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for your patience -- this chapter took a bit longer to put together than I had expected. Hoping to get back to our regular posting schedule soon.

Karé kissed Jess’s forehead and reluctantly began to get out of bed. “C’mon, sleepy,” she teased. “We’re gonna be late.”

Jess caught her by the arm and began to pull her back. “No fair,” she complained, bringing her in for another kiss. “Wasn’t done with you yet.”

Karé indulged her, adding another quick kiss on the lips for good measure, but got up from the bed more quickly this time, pulling on her bra and her shirt. “I would love to stay here,” she said, “but duty calls. And if you think Poe is bad about teasing you now—“ she paused to start pulling on her pants— “he’s gonna be merciless if we show up late for a squadron meeting looking like…” she trailed off, finishing the rest of her sentence with a gesture.

Jess laughed, finally getting up off the bed herself. “Fine,” she said, beginning to hunt for her own discarded clothes. After she’d gotten her shirt on, she caught Karé’s eye, affecting a bit of a pout.

 _This again?_ Karé thought affectionately, though she understood Jess’s interest. She shook her head, smiling, and bent down to lace up her boots. “I’m telling you, you know as much as I do.”

Jess had the rest of her clothes on now, too, and was turning her sock right side out before putting it back on, but she paused to give Karé a little side-eye. “So Poe invites you to a super-secret sabacc game with the godsdamned Rogues on the godsdamned _Millennium Falcon_ and you don’t bother to ask any questions.”

Karé smiled at her. “I told you. I have no idea whether Skywalker is even going to be there.”

“Why wouldn’t he be? He was a Rogue.” Boots on now, Jess began rebraiding her hair.

“Look,” Karé said, “all Poe said was that he needed my squadron leader expertise and I should be prepared to lose some money in sabacc. That’s it. Didn’t think it was a good idea to ask. You want me to get that?” she asked, as Jess fumbled with the tie to her braid.

Jess shook her head. “Nah,” she said, finishing with her hair and working to tuck in and straighten her shirt. “Just wish I could come along. Stupid mission.” Jess and the rest of Blue Squadron were due to leave later in the day for a trip to the new base.

“Well, I didn’t really ask about a plus one,” Karé said. “And the Blues are gonna need you, anyway. I try not to piss off Snap any more than I have to.”

Jess stood up, reaching for Karé to kiss her again.

“Mmm,” Karé said, leaning into it. They’d only officially been together since just after Starkiller Base, but she wasn’t afraid to admit that she was already falling pretty hard. And she suspected that Jess felt the same.

But she couldn’t resist a little more teasing about Jess’s fangirling over the Hero of Yavin. “If I see Skywalker,” she said, deadpan, “should I get his autograph for you?”

“I hate you,” Jess said, punctuating her sentence with another kiss.

“Liar.”

Jess kissed her again. “Yeah.”

* * *

Poe fell into step beside Rey as she left the locker room. “Hey,” he greeted with a friendly smile.

“Hey,” she returned. She hadn’t seen Poe as often lately, with more of his time absorbed in strategy meetings and small missions around the upcoming base evacuation, and more of her time spent in Jedi or flight training. Hers and Finn’s sabacc lessons on the _Falcon_ had been turned into a regular game night, and Poe still turned up for those, but otherwise she mostly saw him in passing. “Good to see you,” she added.

“You too,” he said. “Sorry about tonight. Kind of out of my hands.” Their game had been shelved in favor of the older generation holding their own sabacc game and some kind of strategy discussion on the _Falcon_ , to which Poe had been invited as well.

“I heard,” she said. “We’ll find a way to occupy ourselves, don’t worry.” They turned down the hallway toward the training rooms. “We’re going to the same place, aren’t we?” she asked.

“Yeah. Wanted to see how the first class went.” On Poe’s recommendation, the self-defense and combat training instructor had asked Finn to help her co-teach some of the new recruit trainings. He’d been a bit nervous, but he knew this subject backwards and forwards, so Rey was pretty sure he’d be fine.

But she’d been just as eager to see how things had gone as Poe. “Me, too,” she said.

When they arrived, the class had just broken up, and Finn was explaining a defensive move to two students while most of the rest of the recruits filed out. Rey spotted Jaina at the back of the classroom, helping up one of the new pilots they had seen in the training center earlier in the day. They shook hands, and he took off; evidently they’d been sparring partners for the class.

“How’d it go?” Poe asked Finn, giving the two students a little nod as they headed out.

“Not bad, pretty good, I think,” Finn said. Despite his modest appraisal of his performance, he looked invigorated, like he was in his element. Rey grinned to see it.

Magdel, his co-instructor, came up and patted Finn on the back. “Much better than pretty good,” she corrected. “Let me know what classes you want to teach—if you’re up for it, we could sure use you.” She gave his shoulder one last encouraging pat before heading toward the door.

Finn looked pleased, if a little taken aback. “Uh, thanks.”

Poe was grinning. “I told you,” he said, and Finn shrugged a bit. It was funny; now that Rey had that additional sense of Finn in the Force, it was like she could feel him light up in moments like these. Like she could see a glimmer of him becoming more— _Finn_.

“Right?” said Jaina, who had just joined the group. “You’re a great teacher. I learned a few things.”

Finn laughed softly. “You,” he said, pointing at Jaina, “are lucky I let you stay in the class. Sneaking in at the last minute,” he scolded, though there wasn’t any heat in it.

“I needed practice,” Jaina shrugged. “I know all of Uncle Luke’s moves already.”

“Uh-huh,” Finn said, like he didn’t quite buy that. “Then why were you holding back just now? With Lieutenant Yarbron?” he challenged, indicating Jaina’s sparring partner.

Poe looked amused. “Didn’t she have him down on the ground when we came in?” he asked.

“He’s brand new,” Jaina said. “Didn’t want to welcome him to the Resistance by, like, breaking his arm or something.”

Now Finn was the one who looked amused. “You know, breaking his arm and letting him off easy are not your only choices.”

“See, this is why you’re so good,” Jaina said. “Won’t let your students get away with anything.” She turned to Rey. “You going to take his class?”

“Rey could _teach_ this class,” Finn told Poe and Jaina. “First time I saw her, she was fighting off a whole gang by herself,” he said proudly. He looked at her. “You did have your staff,” he allowed.

“I had to be prepared,” Rey said. “Never knew when I might have to defend myself from _thieves_ ,” she said, poking his chest playfully with her finger. Since Finn had woken up at the Resistance base, they hadn’t really talked much about the day they’d first met; they’d mostly talked about _what now_ and _what next_. With a little distance from the more traumatic moments of those few days, it actually felt good to be talking about it again.

Finn seemed to enjoy it, too. “Or, you know, someone just trying to help,” he said. He turned to Poe. “Little misunderstanding,” he said. “I was still wearing your jacket, and BB-8 told her I’d stolen it.”

“And then you tried to grab my hand,” Rey teased him, getting into it a bit more now, “and I can still run just fine without your holding it, thank you.” Finn laughed, and Rey felt that light in him spark up again.

“I’ll give you that,” he allowed, “but I haven’t been walking through the damn desert all day after a TIE-fighter crash,” he said. “Maybe this time I’d give you more of a fight.”

 _Oh, really?_ “Is that a challenge?” Rey asked.

She could sense the electricity in his grin. “Do you want it to be?” he asked, taking a step toward her.

“If you think you can handle it,” she said, unable to hold back her own grin. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Poe and Jaina exchange a look as they both took a step back.

“Oh, I’ve got this,” Finn assured her confidently.

Rey was suddenly hyper aware of her body. Her heartbeat ticked up only a notch or two, but she felt it. Her skin was buzzing, like she could sense every hair on her arms. Her eyes were focused on Finn’s face, to the grin that challenged her and cheered her on at the same time.

They started out slowly, or at least it seemed slow at first. One jab from Finn, met with a swift block. Then one from Rey, with the same result. A push, a kick that left Finn on the floor, but not for long.

Then it sped up, and they’d expanded the space they were using, the room a blur of flying arms and bodies flipped over backs. They kept sparring with words, too, their challenges reflecting the joy of competing with someone who knew you almost as well as you knew yourself. Finally, after escaping Finn’s latest attempt at putting her into a hold, Rey flipped him onto the mat and pinned him down, triumphant.

“I give,” he said, and although he’d been bested, his smile reminded Rey of that moment on the _Falcon_ just after they’d left Jakku’s atmosphere, rejoicing in one another’s parts in their narrow escape. They stayed there for a long moment, just looking at each other, until Rey heard an _ahem_ behind her.

She’d sort of forgotten that Jaina and Poe were in the room, honestly.

“So—we’ll catch you guys later,” Jaina said, already starting to head toward the door.

Rey got off of Finn and stood up. “I thought we were going to dinner after this,” she said.

Poe looked apologetic. “We have a—thing we have to do,” he said, looking at Jaina. “For General Organa,” he added.

Jaina nodded in agreement, a little more vigorously than normal. “Yeah, that thing. For Mom. Sorry. You two should go, though,” she said.

“Congratulations again, Buddy,” Poe said, and they were gone.

* * *

The feeling didn’t really hit Karé until she was following Poe up the ramp of the _Millennium Falcon_ that evening. It took her a little by surprise, to be honest; she wasn’t some new recruit, she wasn’t prone to being star struck, and she’d worked with plenty of Rebellion veterans in her time in the Resistance. Hell, she’d even flown with L’ulo, who’d been at Endor with Poe’s mom.

Damn, she missed L’ulo.

She wasn’t intimidated by the prospect of spending the evening with the heroes of the Rebellion, either. Pilots were pilots, and Karé’s experience had been that aside from the usual dose of braggadocio that tended to come with the cockpit, the ones who’d accomplished the most were also among the most down to earth. They tended to hate anything that smacked of hero worship. Maybe because they understood the price of war better than most.

No, the thing that hit her was a sense of significance, and it was about, of all things, the blasted ship. _This is the ship that helped take out two Death Stars. That rescued the plans._ (There was that thing about the Kessel Run, too, but that had to be made up, right?)

 _Ma would be impressed_ , she thought, and then she knew why she was feeling this way. Her mother was still back on Sarq 22, and they hadn’t talked for weeks now, mostly because of the increased security leading up to the base evacuation. They’d had a quick call after Starkiller, just so her family knew she had made it, but it would probably be a while until they got to chat again. Ma barely even knew about Jess.

Well. She knew a little about Jess. Karé had detected a distinct _I told you so_ flavor in her mother’s voice when she’d admitted in their quick call that yes, she was seeing someone. And that yes, it was that Dandoran pilot that Ma had heard so much about. Ma was smart, but Karé must have been talking about Jess a lot more than she thought to get that kind of reaction.

“Watch that panel,” Poe cautioned as they moved through the corridor to the lounge, and Karé could see that it was being held closed with space tape. Apparently the _Falcon_ ’s reputation as something of a junk heap was actually deserved. She made a mental note to tell her mother about that when they talked again.

They entered the lounge, and were greeted with a minor roar from the assembled men. General Antilles was there, and she recognized Tycho Celchu, Wes Janson, and Derek Klivian—Hobbie—from her studies of fighter pilots growing up.

It was hard not to recognize Chewbacca, who held up a paw and growled a friendly greeting, or at least what Poe had said was the tone indicating a friendly greeting. He didn’t speak Shryiiwook yet, either, but had spent enough time on the _Falcon_ lately to understand some basic things.

No sooner had they been introduced around by General Antilles— _Wedge_ , he’d insisted—than she’d had Janson sidle up to her with a bit of a flirtatious look in his eye.

“So, Commander Kun,” he said, handing her a glass of whiskey, “can you believe this old relic is still holding together?”

“I heard that!” someone yelled from the back. _Probably Solo_ , she thought as the Rogues laughed.

Karé took a sip of her whiskey. “Karé,” she corrected, taking another sip before answering the question. “And it did pretty damn well for us at Starkiller Base, so I’m pretty glad it’s still together.” She and Poe nodded at each other.

“ _Thank_ you,” Han said as he entered the room. “See, some people know how to appreciate a good ship,” he said, and the Rogues snickered again.

Han held out his hand. “Don’t believe I’ve had the pleasure to meet you officially, Commander. Han Solo,” he said.

“Karé Kun,” she said, and shook it. She’d heard plenty of things about Han Solo over the years, but she hadn’t quite expected him to be so— _warm_. Welcoming.

“Feel like I know you already,” he said. “Leia likes to tell me about her favorite pilots. You come up a lot.”

Well, that was an unexpected compliment. If there were anyone for whom Karé might be tempted to get star struck, it would be General Organa.

“Speaking of Wedge’s girlfriend,” said Hobbie, with a teasing grin, “she gonna make an appearance tonight?”

Karé’s eyes darted immediately to Solo’s face, and she was relieved when he seemed entirely unbothered by the implication. General Antilles’ habit of flirting shamelessly with General Organa was something of an open secret on base, so much so that the prevailing rumor was that they’d been carrying on an affair for decades. Karé looked at Poe, but his face gave nothing away. She wondered whether he still had that poorly disguised crush on the General, now that her husband was back in the picture.

Solo was not only unbothered by all this, he was grinning. “She and Luke had some Jedi business to wrap up,” he said. “Don’t worry, she’ll be here to take your money before long.”

 _General Organa plays sabacc_? That was not something that was widely known. And it sounded like Skywalker was likely to make an appearance later in the evening as well.

Karé was not the only person learning something new about the General. “Wait a second,” said Wes. “She’s a _Jedi_ now?”

Han shrugged as he sat down. “She’s training, anyway.” He rapped lightly on the table. “We playin’, or what?” Wedge handed him the deck, and he began to deal. Everyone shifted in their seats.

Tycho turned to Karé with a grin. “Don’t mind Wes. He’s harmless. Especially now that he has another reason to be afraid of Leia,” he joked.

Wes began to protest. “I am not afraid of—“

“You dumbass, shut up before she walks in right as you’re talking,” said Hobbie, cutting him off. “Your bid, Poe.”

Karé took a look at her cards and prepared her first bet. If nothing else, this promised to be an experience.

* * *

At some point in the evening, Rey came to the startling realization that she and Finn were on what other people in the Resistance would call a _date_.

After Jaina and Poe had left, she had become acutely aware of everything again. The sweat on her skin. Her breathing, still quick after that round of sparring with Finn. Finn’s presence beside her. The fact that neither of them had said a word for a good few minutes after the hasty departure of their friends.

Finn had spoken first. “So—should we go eat?”

“Yeah,” she’d answered automatically, and they’d gathered up their things and headed to the mess. But once they’d gotten there, it had all seemed so loud, so crowded, so public. She'd felt awkward and uncomfortable, like they were on display.

Evidently Finn had thought so, too, or he was just incredibly attuned to her feelings. “Let’s get a few things to go,” he’d said. “We can eat in my room.”

So they’d ended up making a little picnic of sorts on the floor of Finn’s quarters, and in the quiet, they’d managed to pick up on their earlier conversation in the training room.

Their conversation had a rhythm, a beat, like their sparring from earlier, but more cooperative. Point met not with block but with curiosity, openness. He’d asked about her living space on Jakku, what it was like. What she did when she wasn’t scavenging. As she described it, she felt it come back to life in her words, saw it more clearly than she thought she’d be able to recall. The small spray of flowers she'd found for decoration. The lines of tick marks, recording her days. The Rebel helmet she put on sometimes, imagining she was someone else. Somewhere else. The shadows that fell with the waning of the sun, how they changed the look of everything. As she brought her space back to life for him, she started sharing things she hadn't allowed herself to think about. Her feelings, her thoughts through all that time alone. Rey found she could tell Finn things she’d never shared with anyone, not even Jaina, who was probably her closest confidante at the moment.

Finn hesitated to open up at first—she could feel his fear of being judged, his memory of having his thoughts conditioned out of him, stolen, betrayed. But they stumbled through it together, and soon she could see the images of his previous life so clearly, it felt like they were one mind. She saw the rows of cots, smelled the mats in the training room, felt the sense of his fellow troopers as one body but individual parts. The risk of standing out, either as potential officer material or as one to be left behind. The only individual he talked about was Slip, whose blood had marked him, solidified his resolve not to kill for them.

They turned to talk of the base, how the unfamiliar was becoming familiar already. How Chewie was always trying to ply Rey with food, how Han insisted on calling Luke “Kid” all the time despite the fact that Luke was the same age as Leia, Jaina’s ever-changing hairstyles, the Corellian dance that Jaina and Wedge had taught them one afternoon. The appointment on Leia’s calendar that she referred to as a _meeting_ but Jaina and Chewie claimed was a _makeout session_ , the time Rey and Poe had to break up an argument between BB-8 and R2. The silliness and lightness beneath Luke’s serious reputation, the way he and Wedge called each other "Love." The casual, easy affection among Leia and the people she commanded, among all the members of the Organa-Solo-Skywalker-Antilles family. The natural world around the base, the sounds of birds, the rolling water of the stream, the path in the woods where they liked to go for walks sometimes.

Another silence came over them, and suddenly Finn got a look on his face that Rey couldn’t quite place. It had a question in it, and at the same time it knew the answer.

“May I kiss you?” he said softly.

“Yes,” she said, and as he leaned in, she could count his every eyelash.

His lips were softer than she’d imagined, and that struck Rey as almost funny, that she’d imagined anything like this. But she couldn’t laugh because she was too busy feeling everything: his lips on hers, his arms around her, her arms around him, like the universe was just lips and arms and breaths and his deep brown eyes as they pulled apart.

He smiled at her, and again she saw what she’d seen in the training room, the challenge and the encouragement. But now, it was like he’d revealed something new to her, something she had never seen or felt. She had absolutely no idea what she was doing, but somehow her hands knew to cup his face and pull him back to hers, so she could feel everything again.

* * *

Five rounds into the sabacc game, they were practically old friends with Han, Chewie, and the Rogues. _Pilots are pilots._

“So,” said Wedge to Poe and Karé, dealing another hand, “we didn’t just ask you here to take your money.”

“That’s just a nice side benefit,” put in Wes, who had finally given up trying to flirt with Karé when Poe had casually mentioned Jess. Honestly, even his clumsy attempts at flirting had been more friendly than bothersome. And when he’d gone to the ‘fresher, all of the older men—and Chewie—had offered to give him a talking to if any of his behavior was making Karé uncomfortable. (She got the feeling that Chewie’s offer might have involved physical harm as well. She imagined telling Ma about that one— _I got offered protection by the most famous Wookiee in the galaxy_.)

“These guys are enlisting,” Wedge continued, indicating the Rogues, “and we’re restarting Rogue Squadron. So we need a few more pilots to round out the lineup.”

Poe got a concerned look on his face, which Han seemed to pick up on. “Not to worry, Kid. He already promised Leia they wouldn’t take anyone from Black Squadron.”

Well, that took Jess and Snap out of the mix. But Karé immediately had a name for the roster. “Gracet,” she suggested.

Poe looked at her. “Oh, that’s a great idea.” He turned to the group. “Gracet Frix,” he said. “Rebellion kid. Her dad flew at Endor. She defected to the Resistance before I did.”

There were nods all around. “Forgot Grizz had a kid,” Tycho said, shaking his head. “Man. I haven’t thought about him in years.”

“She’s great,” Karé said. “And she’d probably love to fly with people who knew her dad. L’ulo used to tell her some stories.” A silent look passed between her and Poe at the mention of L’ulo. He used to tell Poe stories, too. And helped raise him after his mom died.

“We’re gettin’ the Solo girls, right?” asked Hobbie. “Leia Junior and Rey-of-Light?” Han chuckled at the nicknames, and Chewie rumbled something that made Wedge laugh.

“Yeah, there is plenty of Han in her, too,” Wedge said. “Jaina’s got a few weeks yet before she’s old enough to enlist, but I’m sure once she is wild banthas won’t drag her away.”

“Gonna have a tougher time keepin’ her out of the cockpit,” Han noted. “Think Rey’s in, though.”

“How about Alinn?” Poe suggested. “Or Neryce? We almost put them in Black Squadron.”

“Neryce is a Rebellion kid, too,” Karé noted. “Her mom and her aunt, I think.”

“The Laerte sisters,” confirmed a voice behind her, and everyone turned to see General Organa entering the room, followed by the legend himself, Luke Skywalker.

Beside Karé, Wes deflated a bit. “It was nice having money while it lasted,” he sighed.

Karé couldn’t resist. “Thought you said you weren’t afraid of Leia,” she said sweetly, making the rest of the group break into laughter again.

“I like her,” said Tycho. “Can we keep her?”

“She’s in Black Squadron,” Wedge said. “So, not in the Rogues. But she’s definitely getting invited back to sabacc.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “We will carve our place into time and space  
> We will find our way, or we’ll make a way  
> Find you’re great, don’t you hide your face  
> Let it shine, shine, shine, shine, shine, shine…”
> 
> \--Alessia Cara, “Wild Things”


	4. Too Close and Too Far Away

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Visions are making it difficult to sleep. Han and Luke work on the Falcon and work out a few things. The new Rogue Squadron takes on their first mission. Jaina faces the consequences of breaking the rules.

It took a moment for Wedge to register what had woken him up. One moment he was in the oblivion of sleep, the next staring at his husband’s back in the dark. He blinked, and as he became more aware he could hear Luke’s heavy breathing, sense him trying to calm himself. Then Wedge recalled the sudden jerk of Luke’s body that had pulled him out of sleep.

 _A nightmare, or a Force vision_. Sometimes they were the same thing. It had been a while, though; this had been the first one since Luke had returned. The first one Wedge had been privy to, at least.

“Love?” he called out softly into the darkness.

Luke froze, then slowly turned over. His blue eyes were shining in the dark. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to wake you up.”

Despite their years apart, Wedge could read his husband’s face like a flimsi. Part of Luke was still in whatever dream he’d just woken from, and it had obviously been a disturbing one. _Oh, Love. You don’t have to hold back from me._

Wedge reached out and carefully touched Luke’s cheek, telegraphing his movements ahead of time to avoid startling him. Luke leaned into his touch, closing his eyes for a moment. His breathing had finally calmed down.

“Want to talk about it?” Wedge asked.

Luke took a deep breath and seemed to consider that. “Not just yet,” he said, finally. But his unconscious gesture told Wedge more than words could. Luke had moved his hand to his right wrist, lightly rubbing the place where his prosthetic was attached. _Bespin_.

Wedge scooted closer, opening his arms to Luke as he did so, and Luke kissed him lightly on the lips before gratefully sinking into Wedge’s embrace.

“I missed you,” he said into Wedge’s shoulder.

“Missed you, too,” Wedge said, and held him closer.

* * *

“Well, there’s one benefit to these dreams of yours,” Jaina noted, as she and Rey sat down together at the _Falcon_ ’s dejarik table with their mugs of tea.

“What’s that?” asked Rey, keeping her voice low. She was still a little worried they would wake up Chewie, but Jaina had claimed that as long as they were quiet, they were unlikely to disturb him. Rey could hear him snoring, so perhaps she was right.

Jaina had that mischievous look in her eye. “I can hear all about how things are going with Finn,” she said. “I mean, if you want to talk about it.”

Rey felt her face flush, and stalled by taking another sip of her tea. “Ah,” she began, and then stopped. She wasn’t sure exactly how much she wanted to say. Or how much Finn was comfortable with her saying. They weren’t hiding anything, but at the same time it was kind of nice to have something that was theirs, and theirs alone. Neither of them had really had that before.

She decided to keep it simple. “They’re—good,” she said, though she couldn’t stop her mouth from bursting into a little smile.

Jaina smiled back over her mug. “That’s all I get, huh? ‘Good.’” She took another sip, then put the mug down and gave an exaggerated sigh. “So much for living vicariously through you guys.”

Rey knew Jaina well enough now to read that as a wry joke rather than a serious statement, and played along. “Sorry you taught me about shielding now?” she teased. Even before her first kiss with Finn, Jaina had shown her (and Finn, Rey had later learned) how to shield powerful emotions and thoughts from other Force users. A helpful skill in terms of dealing with enemies, for certain—Rey hated to think of how much Kylo Ren had already managed to take from her head, and had no desire to give him or anyone else more—but also helpful, Jaina had noted, in avoiding oversharing your private thoughts, emotions, or activities with others.

“Uh, no,” Jaina said, chuckling. “I don’t need to live _that_ vicariously through you and Finn.”

Rey felt her face flush again, and took another sip of her tea. She and Finn were taking things slowly, but things were definitely…progressing.

Jaina was watching her reaction, and got uncharacteristically serious for a moment, narrowing her eyes. “Has Mom given you _the_ _talk_ yet?”

 _She means_ —“No, no, nothing like that,” Rey said, wondering if she could get any redder than she already was. “And I already did the, ah, briefing.” The Resistance had a mandated briefing for all new arrivals on health and sexuality issues, which served as a refresher course for some and quite the eye-opener for others, depending on what customs for sharing this information with younglings had been like on their home worlds.

Jaina’s face relaxed a bit, but she didn’t drop the issue. “Yeah, not that one. There’s another talk. It’s kind of a—Force user thing.” She raised her eyebrows a bit. “You’d know if you’d had it.”

“You’ve had it,” Rey guessed.

“Oh, yeah,” Jaina said, with a bit of an eye roll. “Like three times, at least.”

“ _Three times_?”

“I guess Mom _really_ wanted me to have this talk,” Jaina said. “Since she couldn’t be there if I had questions. And, y’know, not all of it is about being with someone else. Even the Force stuff.”

Rey raised an eyebrow at her.

“Personal pleasure,” Jaina said. “Come to think of it, she helped me with my shields before I left, too. Probably for Uncle Luke’s benefit.”

Rey laughed. “Are you sure that was the only reason?”

Jaina took another drink of her tea, then shook her head at Rey with a wry smile. “Great. I _really_ wanted to be thinking about my uncles’ sex life. Thanks for that.”

Just then, a reminder beeped on Jaina’s chrono. “And on that note, now we get to go meditate,” she said, turning off her alarm.

* * *

Despite being from a wide range of ages and cultures—or perhaps, because of it—the new lineup for Rogue Squadron had managed to connect well with one another at their first meeting.

It was always an experience, bringing a new group of pilots together. Wedge hung back a little, letting some of the natural connections and potential tensions emerge so he could figure out the formula for building them into a cohesive team.

Gracet Frix was, as Karé had promised, an amazing pilot. On the older side of the victory kid generation, about five years older than Poe, she’d grown up eager to fight for the Republic her father had died to build. Her story, in some ways, was similar to Poe’s—disillusioned by the New Republic’s refusal to acknowledge the First Order as a threat, she’d been one of the first group of pilots to defect to the Resistance. She’d started out their squadron meeting looking a bit wary of the whole thing, seeming to size everyone up. Then Wes, of all people, had approached her to tell a story about her father, and Wedge had watched her expression gradually soften a bit.

Neryce Laerte, on the other hand, was more gregarious and friendly from the start. She’d taken an interest in Jaina and Rey, and soon had the normally more taciturn Rey sharing more about what simulators she’d used in training on Jakku.

The original Rogues knew Dia Passik from their time with her in the New Republic navy, before the three men had all retired and gone their separate ways. The Twi’lek pilot had given Wes a bit of side eye, but seemed fairly relaxed catching up with Tycho and Hobbie.

Wedge knew getting Nrin Vakil to open up would take some time; the Quarren pilot tended to hang back from his squadmates and concentrate on the flying. But he was clear and calm in the air, and a hell of a pilot. He didn’t do much socializing on their first meeting.

Luke had been the one to suggest bringing Gavin Darklighter into the squadron, and Wedge wasn’t sure why he hadn’t thought of it before. Gavin had joined Wes’s conversation with Gracet, and they were swapping stories about mutual friends.

Alinn Varth had initially struggled in the New Republic navy—Karé had worked with her at one point, and the situation sounded similar to Wedge’s experience with Tyria Sarkin, who’d had her self-esteem all but wrecked by a bad commanding officer. Alinn had, thankfully, gotten out before too much damage had been done, and Karé had shared that joining the Resistance had probably been the best possible thing for her. She, too, ended up gravitating toward Jaina and Rey, and Jaina had managed to draw her out in conversation.

Then it was time to fly. Predictably, everything was a kriffing _mess_ when they first got into the air, but they managed to pull it together. The nice thing about a group like this was that they all tended to be pilots who could figure out that balance of taking direction and knowing when to improvise, so Wedge could take a light hand in directing them, see what they could do.

They eventually practiced a series of drills and maneuvers that Wedge had planned with a little bit of group assistance—everyone from Han to Poe to Jaina to Tycho had thrown a little of their expertise into the pot. But as they neared the end of their drills, Wedge switched up the formation and asked Gracet to take the position Jaina had been flying previously.

Jaina was clearly unhappy about how the drill had ended, and Wedge was not surprised when she confronted him afterward.

“The Delta 3-4,” Jaina said, still a little breathless from the flight. “That’s my maneuver. Why did you take me off of it on those last three rounds?”

A lifetime ago, this kind of comment questioning his judgment, especially from a new recruit, would have set Wedge off. But he’d grown up a bit in the last forty years, thank the Gods. And he understood the thinking behind her question; she was used to taking on things far above her age level, so why should now be any different? Hells, he probably would have been tempted to ask a similar question at her age, had he not been a new recruit to the Empire at the time. The Imperial Academy was not exactly fond of cadets who questioned their superiors.

He smiled. “We practice every maneuver in multiple configurations. You know that. And you likely won’t be on the first couple of missions with us,” he pointed out. “The squad has to know how to do it without you.”

Jaina’s eyes narrowed, and Wedge could almost see her temper start to spark up, though she kept a measured tone. “What do you mean, I won’t be on the first couple of runs?”

“Your parents gave you permission to fly on test runs, not Resistance missions,” Wedge reminded her. “You have to be eighteen to actually enlist. Even if you _are_ an Organa.”

“I’m an Organa- _Solo_ ,” Jaina corrected petulantly.

Wedge rolled his eyes and gave a good-natured laugh to that one. “That’s cute that you think that’s going to help,” he said. “Three weeks, Jai. Three weeks.”

Jaina stopped and stared at him. “You’re serious.”

“Have you met me? Yeah, I’m serious,” he said, poking fun at his own reputation. “It’s only a few weeks. There will be plenty of battles after that, believe me.”

She looked at him, obviously trying to get her frustration under control, but didn’t say anything.

He decided to change the subject. “We can talk more about this later. Time for sabacc,” he reminded her.

He got a hint of a smile.

“Come on,” he prodded. “I gotta win my money back from you and Dameron again.”

That got a bigger smile. “You wish,” she said, and followed him out.

* * *

Thanks to Unkar Plutt and the thieves who preceded him, there were still plenty of things that needed fixing on the _Falcon_. Chewie, Jaina, and Luke had already taken care of the most egregious issues while Han was recovering: removing that ridiculous fuel pump, a permanent fix for the compressor Rey had bypassed, replacing the ailing power converter. But there were also numerous smaller things needing upgrading or maintenance, so Luke’s offer to help Han with repairs was a welcome one.

That said, Han knew Luke well enough to understand that the offer was not just about being helpful, or even about spending time with him. Luke liked to tinker with things when he had something to work out, but wasn’t quite ready to talk about it. Something about fiddling with machinery—and in particular, the _Falcon_ —seemed to calm Luke, help him get out of his head enough to figure out what to do about whatever it was that had been occupying his mind.

For that reason, Han had actually been on the verge of _asking_ Luke to come work on the ship. Just going from life on an island with one other person to life on base with thousands of beings had to be a hell of an adjustment. And it had been a whirlwind several weeks on D’Qar after Starkiller Base, so many things going on at once. Not the least of them, Luke reuniting with the husband he’d had to lie to for the last seven years. They seemed to be doing okay, but as Leia said, “The only people who know what’s going on in a relationship are the people in it, and sometimes they don’t even know.”

Han set Luke to work on the upgraded shield array, and went to finish up the wiring for the comms system, a job that just happened to be nearby.

With them both engrossed in their tasks, the ship was a bit too quiet for Han’s taste, so he took a break to drag out the ancient audio player Jaina had stashed in her old hideout on board, the same one he’d had all the way back on Yavin.

Luke grinned in that boyish way of his. “You still have that thing?”

“Guess nobody on Jakku knew about smuggling compartments,” Han shrugged. “Or they figured it wasn’t worth stealing, who knows.” He plugged it in to the power supply. “See if it still plays. Any requests?” he asked.

“Eh, you pick,” Luke said. “Something not on Jaina’s playlist,” he amended, and Han laughed knowingly. Jaina had eclectic taste in music, and it wasn’t bad, but anything could get old after listening to it nonstop for years.

Han put on one of his old favorites, and they resumed their repairs, Luke humming along with the song at parts. Han finished the comms system, but busied himself cleaning up parts, until finally Luke abruptly stopped what he was doing and spoke up.

“I think I’m fucking this up,” he said, his eyes still on the control panel for the shield array.

Whatever the context, this was a very not-Luke thing to say. He’d probably worked on this particular part of the _Falcon_ half a dozen times over the years. And while the kid may have made his share of mistakes in life, fucking things up was more Han’s jam.

Han poked his head into Luke’s workspace. “Nah,” he said casually, “looks like you got it together all right.”

Luke gave him a look that made it clear he hadn’t been talking about the shield array.

Han looked at him for a long moment, then shut the case for the control panel. “C’mon, Kid. This ain’t a spanner conversation, it’s a whiskey conversation.”

Luke followed him out of the workspace and into the lounge, where Han pulled out two glasses and reached up to open the panel where he hid the good stuff. He poured Luke a generous portion—especially considering what a lightweight Luke tended to be—and slid it over to him, then poured one for himself and sat down.

“I’m ‘bout 90% sure you’re not fucking anything up,” he said, “but talk to me.”

Luke took a generous sip from his glass, made a little bit of a face, then set it down. “I don’t—I don’t know,” he began. “I think I’m making Rey’s training go backward. She went from beating a seasoned Force user, to—the damned ‘ _saber_ won’t even come to her anymore.” He shook his head. “Leia’s practically teaching herself, she doesn’t need me.”

Han scoffed a bit at that. “Think Leia’d disagree with you there, but…“ he shrugged.

Luke contemplated his glass for a minute, not looking up. “This is how we started before,” he said. “Some of them were eager, some afraid. They worked hard, they got better, and then…” he trailed off.

Han took a sip of his drink, contemplating that. “You worried one of 'em’s gonna go dark?” he asked. If they were talking about fears, they might as well get them all out on the table.

“I don’t think so,” Luke said. “I don’t see it in any of them. But I didn’t see it coming with Ben, either.” He took another drink. “Didn’t want to see it.”

“Yeah,” Han agreed, but left it there. He wanted to give Luke the space to get whatever it was out of his head.

There was a long pause, and then Luke breathed in and out deeply. “Leia and I have been talking about bringing the other Jedi back. When to do it,” he said. There were at least four different colonies that Han knew of, where the Jedi were training in secret, had been for years. He’d wondered when this was going to come up, but he knew it wasn’t his place to say. He did know that Leia and Luke had been talking about it, but that was all.

“Yeah,” Han said again.

Luke said nothing, and Han finally got it. Luke was questioning whether to bring them back at all, whether he was just raising a new generation of Jedi for the slaughter. He caught Luke’s eye, gave him a serious look. “Luke, no.”

Luke looked oddly…ashamed.

“Not. Your. Fault.”

Luke took another drink, a rather long one, and Han was starting to regret giving him such a big glass of whiskey. But he let him go, for now. If the Kid got blasted drunk, he’d take care of him, just like old times.

Luke switched gears, apparently in a confessional mood. “Remember that vision—with Rey? Where I ran away?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Han said warily. Luke had told them of a vision he’d had, a sort of alternate reality in which rather than taking Jaina to Ahch-To to protect her, he’d gone there alone immediately after the massacre at the Academy. Disappeared, where no one could find him. Abandoned them all.

“Sometimes I want to go back,” he said. “Alone. Think maybe—it would have been better.”

 _Fuck_. He’d had no idea Luke had been feeling this way. And while he felt for him, Han was also kind of pissed off, frankly. Pissed off at what the galaxy had done to his sunny idealism, pissed off that he was talking about giving up, pissed off at whatever was making him doubt himself in a way he’d rarely done before. “It sure as hell would _not_ ,” Han said angrily.

Luke shook his head. “No, I know. It just—I just—I can’t fail them again.“

 _Well, there it was_. If there was one Skywalker trait stronger than stubbornness or Force-sensitivity, it was this sense of responsibility for the entire kriffing galaxy.

Han drank the last of his drink and set the glass down, a little harder than normal. It made a loud rap on the table. “Look. If you’re worried about failing, I gotta tell you—you’re gonna.”

Luke looked up at him, clearly waiting to see where this was going.

“You’re gonna fail, and you’re gonna keep failing, and you’re gonna fail fucking _better_ next time. And you’re not gonna stop trying, because you’re almost as stubborn as Leia, and you fucking _care_ , so—go fail better,” he said, punctuating each phrase with a jab of his finger. “And we’ll be here when you do.”

For the first time in this part of the conversation, Luke smiled, and Han could see the old Luke there again, the one he recognized.

“That’s some advice,” he remarked.

Han shrugged. “Well, it’s no Aunt Beru. But I try.”

“More like Uncle Owen,” Luke said, with a laugh. “How do you know so much about Aunt Beru?”

“My kid has quoted her at me three times in the last two weeks,” Han said. He raised an eyebrow at Luke. “You didn’t fuck that up.”

Luke nodded, but obviously didn’t want to take too much credit for Jaina. “She’s a pretty remarkable person. With good parents,” he added.

“And a good uncle,” Han said. “Who knows, you might be back in the running for favorite.”

Luke shook his head. “I think Wedge still has that title.”

“I don’t know,” Han said. “He lost points. Grounded her from the first mission with the Rogues today.” He sat back in his seat, chuckling a bit. “Think she was hoping that whole waiting till she was eighteen thing was more of a _suggestion_.”

Luke laughed. “That sounds about right.” He shook his head, obviously recalling some adventure with Jaina.

“Kid,” Han said, and Luke looked up. “Any better?”

“Yeah,” Luke said, and he really did look more like himself. “A lot. Thanks.”

“Anytime you wanna fix the _Falcon_ —“

“Or drink your booze?”

Han smirked at him. “Anytime.”

* * *

Han reached the command center just before the squadrons did their first roll call after the jump. He knew Rey could handle herself, but he wanted to listen in, just in case. Not that he could really do anything from here; it just would make him feel better to hear her voice on the comm.

He was surprised not to see Jaina here monitoring the fight as well, and was about to ask Leia if she’d seen her when Rogue Squadron started reporting in.

“Rogue Four, standing by.” Gracet.

“Rogue Ten standing by.” There was Dia.

“Rogue Six, standing by.” “Rogue Five here, Boss.” “Rogue Two standing by.” It was like old times, hearing Tycho’s voice right after Hobbie’s and Janson’s again.

Rogues Three (Neryce), Seven (Gavin), Nine (Alinn), and Ten (Nrin) chimed in next.

Finally, the voice he’d been waiting for. “Rogue Eight, standing by,” Rey piped up, ready for her first actual battle. Han couldn’t take any credit—the kid had practically trained herself—but he still smiled at Leia proudly. She smiled back, looking equally pleased.

Suddenly, another voice chimed in. “Rogue Eleven, standing by.”

 _The hell?_ Jaina was supposed to be grounded for combat missions right now.

He looked at Leia, who raised her eyebrows at him and sighed. _Your daughter_ , that look said. As if Leia herself hadn’t defied High Command countless times when she thought she knew better.

On the comm, there was a pause, then everyone heard the groan in Wedge’s voice. “Godsdamnit, Jai.”

“Copy, Rogue Leader,” she chirped back.

 _Yeah, my daughter, all right._ Han shook his head.

At this point, they didn’t really have time to argue about whether Jaina was supposed to be there. Wedge moved on from her saucy reply to giving the squadron their orders, and they were off.

* * *

By most measures, the new Rogue Squadron’s first mission for the Resistance had been a roaring success. They’d taken out several First Order ships, drawn focus away from the other squadrons bringing personnel and supplies to the rendezvous for the new base, and had worked together remarkably well, considering how few practice runs they’d done together.

After they’d landed, Jaina was basking in the glow—and the adrenaline—of their flight. Even if she’d had to break the rules a bit to be there, she considered it well worth it, and it felt like others did, too.

Wedge appeared at the edge of their group, hanging back for a moment while Jaina accepted congratulations from some of the other pilots, then striding purposefully towards her.

“Rogue Eleven. A word?” he asked. His tone was casual, his face composed, his voice steady, but there was clearly something going on beneath that. Jaina saw Hobbie and Wes exchange a look.

“Sure,” Jaina said calmly, following her uncle back into the locker room. One of the pilots behind her made a quiet _Mm-hmm-hmm_ as they left.

When they were alone, Wedge whirled around to face her. His voice was still controlled, but his face was furious, his whole body tense. “What in the actual fuck did you think you were doing?” he demanded.

Jaina had expected to be reprimanded, but she hadn’t been prepared for this. Wedge wasn’t just angry, he was livid. With _her_. This—this was a new experience.

“I was—I—“ she began.

“Did I or did I not give you an order earlier?”

“I just—“

“Yes or no, Jaina?”

Her voice lowered slightly, but she drew herself up a bit, her chin stuck out defiantly. _I deserve to be here, damn it_. “You did.”

He met her defiant posture, leaning in towards her. “You were not supposed to be out there. You are not cleared for combat missions.”

Jaina matched the fire in Wedge’s eyes with her own. “I am not some kid anymore,” she said. “I am just as capable as anyone else out there, I deserve—“

“You _deserve_? You think this is about skills?” Wedge asked. “Hells, no. You’re a fucking amazing pilot already, you have good instincts, you think on your feet. You outfly half the beings out there. You’ll be leading your own damned squadron some day.”

Jaina blinked at him, trying to absorb the sudden flood of compliments amid Wedge’s palpable rage.

“But today is not that day,” he continued, his voice tight. “You don’t get to decide. I am the leader of this squadron. When I say you’re grounded, you stay grounded, or that’s what we call insubordination.”

“Fine,” Jaina said. “I understand.” Her instinct was usually to double down at a moment like this, but right now she just wanted this conversation to be over. She could take Wedge being annoyed with her; that didn’t last. But this—she didn’t want this.

Wedge wasn’t quite done, however. “No, I don’t think you do understand,” he said. His voice lowered slightly. “I’ve been doing this for forty fucking years, Jai. It’s not about blind obedience; it’s about trust. And pilots who don’t trust their commanders, think they always know better? Are pilots who wind up _dead_.”

 _Oh, kriff._ Jaina felt that _click_ in the Force again, and at the same time she could feel the pain behind that rage, all the things he wasn’t saying. That’s why his anger was so vehement, so strong.

She nodded gravely.

Wedge thought for a moment, then spoke, calmer this time. “You couldn’t wait three weeks? You’re grounded for six.”

She was about to react to that, but he put up a hand.

“If you want to have some kind of teenage rebellion thing, fine. Do it somewhere else. If you want to be part of this squadron, that shit has to stop, now. Understood?”

Jaina’s mouth was in a firm line, but she nodded. “Understood.”

For the first time since they’d started this conversation, Wedge’s face softened. She felt his anger and fear begin to dissipate, his love and— _was that pride_?—for her washing in to replace it, just as his smile replaced the stern look from before. “Good,” he said.

* * *

Hobbie couldn’t help greeting Wedge with a knowing smirk as he emerged from his talk with Jaina. They’d made a pact, he and Tycho and Wes, before coming to D’Qar: _Gotta keep the Boss from getting too damned serious._

Wedge was not amused. “What’s gotten into you?” he demanded.

Hobbie chuckled. “Did you just dress down a Solo for insubordination?”

Wedge narrowed his eyes. “What if I did?”

He hated to laugh right in Wedge’s face, but— _Does he even realize how ridiculous this is_? Pretty soon, Hobbie could barely breathe for laughing.

“That’s like—telling a mynock not to fuckin’ fly,” he managed, before breaking out into laughter again. “C’mon, Boss. She’s a great pilot. Give the kid a break.”

Wedge gave him a long look, first staring daggers into his eyes, then looking determined, like he’d made an important decision. He grabbed Hobbie by the collar and began dragging him to the locker room, where Jaina was still putting away her gear.

He pushed Hobbie in her direction. “Congratulations,” he announced to them both, “meet your new wingmate.”

Jaina looked startled, but stayed quiet, still a bit chastened from her earlier dressing down.

Hobbie did not. “What the fuckin’ hell?”

Wedge was smug. “Your job is to keep each other alive, and keep each other out of the bacta,” he said, jabbing a finger at each of them for emphasis. “Oh, yeah—and she’s grounded for six weeks. You can start when she comes back.”

“But—“ Hobbie protested.

Wedge answered that with a look and another jab of his finger, and strode away.

Hobbie looked after him for a minute, then regarded Jaina skeptically. “You play sabacc like your old man?” he finally asked.

Jaina gave him a small, sly smile. “I play sabacc like my _mother_.”

Hobbie looked at her for a moment, then laughed again. “C’mon,” he said, motioning for her to follow him out. “I’ll buy you a juice or something.”

“Gonna lose so much fuckin’ money,” he grumbled under his breath.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "You're weird, in tears  
> Too close and too far away  
> He said, 'saw red,'  
> Went home, stayed in bed all day..."
> 
> \--"Ready to Go," Republica


End file.
